A recent survey of physicians by Merritt Hawkins shows a 56% support single payer coverage in the US. In 2008, 58% of physicians opposed single-payer. This has coincided with < 50% of physicians owning their own practice. Also coincided with decreasing morale and frustration with more and more time with EMR and rising practice costs.Any correlation? Probably. Physicians are tired with endless red tape, billing nightmares and appeals to mindless clerks.

Single payer means that one payer (Government) will control the massive payment system through its bureacracy. Can physicians really be in favor of exchanging insurance company bureacrats for facelss, government gnomes?Senator Sanders (VT) has pushed single payer, in effect Medicare for all. There is an attraction there for certain. At least, there are pre-determined rules for Medicare, reasonable certain payment and an appeal system with recourse through Congress. The cynics opposed to the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) say that it was designed to fail and lead to single payer payment system.

He estimates that Senator Sanders plan has hidden costs of $1.25 trillion to $2.8 trillion a year or $3,800 to $8,500 per U.S. resident!. In his analysis, he cites several cost estimates worth reading.

Conclusion: While I do not think Congress is anywhere close to a single payer system, I am not surprised at physicians simply being tired of fighting. We do not have the moral courage (translated and transferred to our elected politicians) to face reality. The can keeps getting kicked down the road with the hope that some miracle will happen and the $201 T we owe will just disappear.The cost of healthcare is a major contributor to our financial disorder.